Not yet uploaded @ IMRA [but presumably available shortly, despite arrival of the e-mail @ 11:36] are news-stories

representing incremental updates of previously-discussed forces at-play in the middle east; none have been discussed elsewhere [yet] and each carries particular implications {impugning BHO}. Syrian Kurds formed transitional government {Recall that this physician wrote of this problem a half-decade ago [The Road To Iran Runs Through Kurdistan - And Starts In Syria] and a month ago [The Kurds can lead a reborn Syria, at peace with all of her neighbors] because it was necessary to debunk ambient either/or constructs [regarding Iraq] of Sunni/Shiite and [regarding Syria] Assad/al-Qaeda; that this community remains highly-relevant was illustrated yesterday in a column disseminated by Daniel Pipes [Turkey's Fix for the "Kurdish Problem"]. Thus, BHO would be best advised to RECOGNIZE what has transpired, although he wont.} After a series of military gains, Syrian Kurds in the northeast of the country announced on Tuesday [11/12/2013] formation of a transitional autonomous government. The latest declaration comes amid a general strengthening of Kurdish rights in neighboring Turkey, and increasing moves towards independence by Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region. Long oppressed under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Kurds view the civil war as an opportunity to gain the kind of autonomy enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighboring Iraq. The announcement was made after talks in the mostly-Kurdish town of Qamishli, and comes after Kurdish leaders announced plans to create the temporary government in July. The transitional autonomous government involves the division of Syrias Kurdish region into three areas, each with its own local assembly, as well as representatives to a regional executive body, AFP reported. Tuesdays statement detailed the formation of a transitional civil administration for the area of Western Kurdistan-Syria. The meeting was held two days ago in the town of Qamishli between all the local groups, which discussed the project of a transitional civil administration that was put forward by the PYD earlier, it said, referring to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party. The key responsibilities of the transitional administration will be preparation of local election laws and preparing general elections, a well as political, military, security and economic issues in the region and Syria. Kurdish regions of northern Syria have been administered by local Kurdish councils since forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew in the middle of 2012.

The redeployment was seen as a tactical move by the regime, one which freed up forces to battle rebels elsewhere, and encouraged the Kurds to avoid allying with the opposition. More recently, Kurds have battled with jihadist groups keen to secure a wider corridor between Syria and Iraq to ensure more regular supplies and reinforcements. Last month Kurdish forces seized control of a crucial border point with Iraq. Fighting between the Kurdish militiamen and jihadists ostensibly battling to topple Assad has added another level of complexity to the civil war, which has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives since 2011. Kurds represent about 15 percent of the Syrian population, and are mostly concentrated in the northern part of the country. Egypt expresses optimism over Russian ministers visit {That BHO has alienated the Egyptian Military has now been demonstrably answered; this reversion to the Nasser-Soviet alliance of a half-century ago SHOULD be unnerving.} Egypt's foreign minister said the upcoming visit of the Russian foreign and defense ministers is a sign of 'care and respect' for Egypt and the region. The visit comes one month after the US suspended a part of its annual military aid to Egypt, including cash payments and the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, helicopters and tanks. The move came after two protest camps by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi were forcefully dispersed by security forces, leaving hundreds of protesters dead. Some have speculated that Egypt is searching for other military allies. "It is not a change that implies substituting one party for another but a change that implies adherence and persistence to having more choices and ensuring multiple options for the Egyptian decision," Fahmy said, speaking of the foreign policy changes after Morsi's ouster. The programme for the visit involves talks on weapons sale and political relations. Egypt had close ties with Russia until a few years before president Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel in 1979, a deal which brought close military links with the US and substantial military aid. "Egypt-Russia military relations did not stop for a second. We have bought weapons and fixed weapons in Russia since the 1970s, but to buy new weapons is a matter that needs studying," Fahmy said.

"The visit and discussion in such a format will be conducted for the first time in the history of our friendly relations (with Egypt)," Russian spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told AFP earlier this week. Shin Bet agents storm al-Aqsa [by Mohammed MarI, Saudi Gazette] {One discussion-point during last nights event was the error made by Moshe Dayan after the 67 War, when he ceded control over the Temple Mount unilaterally because he hoped for a quick-retreat in conjunction with a comprehensive Peace Treaty.} A group of eighty five agents of internal intelligence service Shin Bet stormed the AlAqsa Mosque Compound in occupied Jerusalem, according to the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage. The Shin Bet agents entered the Al-Musalla Al-Marwani, Al-Musalla Al-Qibli and the Dome of the Rock, storming Muslims third holiest shrine through the Al-Magharebah gate that connects the mosque with the Al-Buraq Plaza (the Western Wall Plaza). The foundation said that the group started provoking the Palestinian worshipers who shouted Allahu Akbar in response. The foundation said that the Israeli security forces surrounded the groups to prevent hundreds of Palestinians from attacking it. Palestinian officials say the daily storming of the Muslims third holiest shrine is part of the Israeli measures to Judaize what has been left of Jerusalem by intensifying the Jewish presence in it. On June, the Jewish Rabbi Yaakov Medan of Har (Mount) Etzion seminary said that the Israeli internal intelligence service Shin Bet supports the visits to the Muslims third holiest shrine. The Shin Bet Jewish Division Director told me Jewish presence on the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque complex) is essential for maintaining our sovereignty. He told me that in order to accommodate this trend he would increase the number of agents and security personnel on the Temple Mount. Medan told participants in the Begin Center Conference on the complex. On last July, the rightist Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel said that the government has to build the second temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex in occupied Jerusalem. Ariel, form the rightist Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party, reportedly said that the we have built many buildings, including many small temples, employing a term used in the Jewish world to refer to synagogues. We need something that is not like the Temple. We need the Temple. On the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex), Ariel told participants at the Shilo Conference on

Biblical Research and Archaeology. Shilo settlement located to the north of Ramallah in the West Bank. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the June 1967 War, annexed it in 1980, and has since built settlements there that are home to some 300,000 Jewish settlers. Control over the city has been seen as the most sensitive and thorniest issue of IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state but the Israel says the city is its eternal capital Rice: French On Board with Iran {Again discussed last nightafter Dennis Miller facetiously noted that the French have experience with bad-dealssuch as the Louisiana Purchasewas potential capitulation of America, dissing Israel. Lets see how many Dem-Jews speak-out AGAINST this deal.} President Barack Obama's top national security aide said Wednesday [11/13/2013] that France was "fully on board" with a proposed interim deal on freezing Iran's nuclear program, ahead of a new round of talks in Geneva. National Security Adviser Susan Rice made the comment after Obama spoke to French President Francois Hollande by phone and both men urged Iran to accept a deal presented by world powers. "The French are fully on board," Rice said at the Washington Ideas Forum sponsored by the Atlantic magazine and the Aspen Institute. Reports last week said that eleventh hour reservations by France had scuttled hopes of agreeing a deal with Tehran at the talks grouping the P5+1 world powers in Geneva. But Rice insisted that "some of the reporting on this has been, frankly, rather misleading." In a statement issued by the French presidency, Hollande and Obama expressed support for the text of an agreement put forward at the Geneva talks. "The two heads of state expressed their shared determination to obtain from Iran every guarantee that it will finally give up its military nuclear program," the statement said. "Now it is up to Iran to give a positive answer," the statement said. A White House statement said the leaders were in "full agreement" on the "unified proposal" put forward by world powers in the P5+1 group. The statement also highlighted Washington's close relationship with Paris, smoothing over suggestions that Washington was angry with France's role in the talks.

"The United States deeply values its relationship with France, including as NATO allies, and we will continue to consult closely on global security," the White House said. Iran and world powers are planning to meet again on November 20 for further negotiations. Western diplomatic sources say the two sides were close to a deal, but that Iran backed away because it was unhappy with some of the wording in the text. The P5+1 is made up of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany. They have been negotiating with Tehran for years over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon -- a claim Iran vehemently denies. EU Lawmakers Urge Rethink on Guidelines with Israel {It may be recalled that BBs reaction was to delimit $ that was to be directed solely to Judea/Samaria under prior contracts, perhaps serving as impetus for this evolution. That BHO again has remained MUTE regarding this type of economic-warfare against Eretz Yisrael is, of course, part of a pattern of picking-shots against its government.} Some 30 members of the European Parliament on Wednesday [11/13/2013] urged the EU to rethink July guidelines banning financial ties with Israeli settlements. In a letter to the bloc's top diplomat Catherine Ashton, 27 MEPs across the political spectrum urged the EU's executive, the European Commission, to reverse or at least soften the guidelines setting a January 2014 ban on funding and business deals with settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem. They urged Ashton "to take all the necessary steps to withdraw the commission guidelines or, at the very least, to come to terms with the government of Israel to ensure that their implementation will reflect the deep bilateral relations between the European Union and Israel and would by no means harm them." The July 19 EU text angered Israeli leaders, with some accusing Europe of trying to dictate its borders. The letter to Ashton was released as Israel's Haaretz daily said the country finally might join a European-funded research project that it had threatened to shun due to these guidelines. The paper said Israel gave Brussels a "final proposal for the wording of the agreement governing Israeli scientific cooperation and participation in the joint Horizon 2020 initiative".

It said EU officials were expected to give an answer by the end of the week. Israel warned in August that it might refuse to participate in Horizon 2020, a seven-year 70-billion-euro ($94 billion) research and innovation plan. The Jewish state was to contribute 600 million euros to the project. The building of new settlements on occupied Palestinian land is a key sticking point in Middle East peace talks. Israel and Hamas square up for next Gaza duel {Recall that shelling from Gaza continues, as BHO again remains MUTE against attacks.} A year after trading fire in a weeklong war in Gaza, Israel and Hamas are squaring up for another confrontation, despite both sides appearing reluctant to make the first move. More than 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed when hostilities erupted after an Israeli missile killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari last November 14. An Egypt-brokered truce was agreed seven days later, on November 21. During an inspection of the Israeli armys Gaza division on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one year later, a significant deterrent was achieved. He cited a fall of 98 per cent in the frequency of rocket attacks on Israel from the Islamist-ruled Palestinian territory. Israel will continue to respect international law scrupulously, but will not remain with its arms crossed in the face of terrorism, he warned. Rights groups and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have accused both sides of flouting international law during the 2012 Gaza conflict. Netanyahu accused Palestinian militants of preparing for another round of hostilities. Hamas and other terrorist groups continue to arm themselves in different ways. They are also trying to develop an underground option through the use of tunnels, he said. On October 13, Israel announced the discovery of a terror tunnel 1.7 kilometres long from Gaza under the border into Israel. Responsibility for constructing the sophisticated tunnel was claimed by the Izzeddine Al Qassem Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which said it had planned to use the tunnel to capture Israeli soldiers and hold them in exchange for imprisoned Palestinians. A Hamas leader, Bassem Naim, told AFP the tunnel was an important message to Israel that Hamas is ready to strike as far as possible.

On November 1, four Hamas fighters were killed and five Israeli soldiers were wounded during an Israeli raid to destroy the tunnel, which saw Israeli forces bomb another tunnel during the shootout. Hamas does not want war or confrontation, because the Palestinian domestic situation weighs heavily, Naim said, referring to the heavy toll of Israeli and Egyptian border restrictions on the impoverished territory. But if it happens, the movement will not stand idly by and will respond with military force, as well as politically and diplomatically. On Wednesday[24 Nov.], Palestinian security forces paraded in Gaza Citys central Katiba Square to celebrate Hamas victory in last years conflict with Israel. Our message is that the Palestinian resistance will rid the Zionist enemy of its arrogance in every battle to come, one official from the Hamas armed wing told AFP. He said the Izzeddine Al Qassem Brigades were even stronger now than a year ago. Last week, the Hamas government said it had added studies to encourage resistance to Israel to the territorys public schools curriculum. Courses to strengthen Palestinian rights, update programmes and add studies on human rights would be introduced at three levels in secondary schools, Education Minister Muetassem Al Minaui told AFP. For Hamas, however, the most immediate threat comes from the souring of relations with Egypt after the army there toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July. The Egyptian military has since stepped up efforts to destroy tunnels used to smuggle fuel and other basic goods into Gaza from under the border at Rafah. Hamas has also lost support from Syria and Iran after breaking with President Bashar Assads regime over his brutal crackdown on an Arab Spring-inspired uprising. Hamas faces a grave crisis after the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and tensions with Iran, said Naji Sharab, political science professor at Gazas Al Azhar University. It has lost its strategic, political, economic and security-related depth. He believes the Islamist movements options are limited, given that the sole issue is reconciliation with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas Fateh movement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hamas official Ahmed Yussef said he recognises the existence of numerous difficulties because of less support from Iran, but insisted these are being surmounted and relations will improve. Hamas is focusing especially on resolving problems caused by the closure of the tunnels, and it will be some time before the crisis is over, Yussef conceded. A year after war, Gaza-Israel front is calm By Washington Post {Not atypical of the WaPo is denial of strife experienced by Israelis, while hyperinflating that of Palestinian Arabs; this, of course, mirrors the ANTI-SEMITIC meme of BHO.} We dont have the basic materials for life, said Fadi Abdulmajeed, 33, a merchant in the Sheik Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. No solar, no diesel, no electricity, no gas, no crossing points. Its a dead country. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Israel look back on a mostly quiet year. The merchant and others blamed Hamas even more than Israel, which maintains an air and sea blockade against the coastal enclave but allows most trade goods except building materials such as cement to pass through its single commercial crossing. Were going back 50 years, and its all because of Hamas, Abdulmajeed said. He and others said the division between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which is run by the Fatah party and President Mahmoud Abbas, has created a crisis. No one in Gaza is optimistic. If the crossings opened and they let us out, you would not find a soul left in Gaza, Abdulmajeed said. Abu Yousif, 33, a street vendor, said the fighters in the resistance against Israel performed well last year. But for me as a citizen? I didnt gain anything. On the contrary, the situation becomes worse. Israel squeezes us, but do not forget Hamas and Fatah, what they have done, said Adnan Abu Helal, 57, a clothing merchant. As long as we are divided, we will remain weak. During the war, Palestinian militant factions in Gaza fired almost 1,500 rockets at Israel, although 143 landed inside Gaza and 421 were reported intercepted by Iron Dome, according to the United Nations. The Israel Defense Forces say they struck 1,500 sites in Gaza. Retired Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, former chief of Israeli defense intelligence and the director of Tel Aviv Universitys Institute for National Security Studies, said lessons were

learned by Israels military between Operation Pillar of Defense last year and a similar operation in 2009 known as Cast Lead. In Pillar of Defense, at the very start, a commander of Hamas was killed, and their strategic assets, like the missiles that reach Tel Aviv, were all destroyed, Yadlin said. Hamas was shocked. They understood that they could not survive this in the same way they survived in Cast Lead. Yadlin said that these days, Hamas is racked by internal and external challenges that have little to do with Israel. The Egyptian military is waging war in the northern Sinai against jihadist groups and trying to smother the Muslim Brotherhood, a longtime supporter of Hamas. The Egyptian army has sealed most of the smuggling tunnels between Sinai and Gaza that provide Hamas with $230 million in annual tax revenue and a lifeline of cheap goods. At the same time, Iran has reduced its financial support for Hamas because of the latters opposition to the governing regime in Syria. Qatar also has cut back support. A year ago, in the early evening hours, Yael Gerasi, a mother of three and a tax adviser, had just returned home after walking her dog in Rishon LeZion, a town near Tel Aviv. The sirens began to wail, and she huddled with her kids in the fortified safe room in her apartment. Then, she said, a Fajr-5 rocket fired from Gaza scored a direct hit on her apartment building, causing extensive damage but no serious injuries. This week, she came home for an hour at lunchtime to check on the final details of her year-long renovation. I dont think about the politics, Gerasi said. I just want to raise my kids and live in peace and quiet. Asked about people in Gaza, she said, I think they want to live in peace and quiet, too.